“I’m sorry God. I won’t do it again.”
You do it again.
“I’m really sorry God. Forgive me.”
You do it again.
“I’m feel so bad God. I repent.”
You do it again.
What is this called besides normal for most people; its called cheap grace. Cheap grace – asking forgiveness of your sins in order to satisfy your conscience with no intention of making any life changes. Sound familiar? It does for me. I stand guilty as charged. For years I’ve practiced cheap grace, basically cheating the system, knowing God would forgive whatever I did wrong again, and again, and again… Why change when I can enjoy sinning (except the guilt part) and still be forgiven.
But that’s not how it works… Jesus doesn’t call us to be sorry for our sins. The “Oops, God, I feel bad about that.” type of cheap grace. He doesn’t call us to keep committing the same sins. He calls us to sin no more; He calls us to repent…
“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” – Matthew 4:17 NIV
Repentance equals life reversal, not just an apology. We often think repentance is saying a little prayer asking for forgiveness, but true repentance comes with action; the action of anti-sin. It is by faith we are saved, but truly coming to Christ must involve real repentance…God gives grace abundantly. He gives it enough to cover your deepest, darkest sins. But He never intended it as a quick fix to get you over your feelings of remorse for something only for you to go out and commit that action time and again. Grace ain’t cheap. And repentance should come at a cost. The cost is your old way of life.
